Isaiah 49:26

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹ 

Then all humankind ²  will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, ³  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 9:15

9:15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ⁵  say. ⁶  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 10:24

10:24 Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure. ⁸ 

Do not punish us in anger or you will reduce us to nothing. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 23:15

23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁰ 

have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ¹¹ 

‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering

and drink the poison water of judgment. ¹² 

For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ¹³ 

that ungodliness ¹⁴  has spread throughout the land.’”

Micah 7:14

7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ¹⁵ 

the flock that belongs to you, ¹⁶ 

the one that lives alone in a thicket,

in the midst of a pastureland. ¹⁷ 

Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ¹⁸ 

as they did in the old days. ¹⁹ 

¹ sn Verse 26a depicts siege warfare and bloody defeat. The besieged enemy will be so starved they will their own flesh. The bloodstained bodies lying on the blood-soaked battle site will look as if they collapsed in drunkenness.

² tn Heb “flesh” (so KJV, NASB).

³ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

⁴ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.” See 1:24.

⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

⁶ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…” The person is shifted from third to first to better conform with English style.

⁷ tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.

⁸ tn Heb “with justice.”

⁹ tn The words, “to almost nothing” are not in the text. They are implicit from the general context and are supplied by almost all English versions.

¹⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord…concerning the prophets.” The person is shifted to better conform with English style and the word “of Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation to avoid the possible misunderstanding that the judgment applies to the prophets of Samaria who had already been judged long before.

¹² tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” For these same words of judgment on another group see 9:15 (9:14 HT). “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.

¹³ tn The compound preposition מֵאֵת (me’et) expresses source or origin (see BDB 86 s.v. אֵת 4.c). Context shows that the origin is in their false prophesying which encourages people in their evil behavior.

¹⁴ sn A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the Lord’s criticism of the prophet and priest. This is a common rhetorical device for bracketing material that belongs together. The criticism has, however, focused on the false prophets and the judgment due them.

¹⁵ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

¹⁶ tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

¹⁷ tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

¹⁸ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

¹⁹ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”